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COPD research open day

The chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) research team, led by Professor Louise Donnelly, hosted a research open day for patients and the public on Monday 9 May 2016.

The aim of the day was to give feedback to research volunteers and inform them of the on-going research within the National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI) at Imperial College and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) respiratory biomedical research unit (BRU) at Royal Brompton Hospital.

The session opened with an introduction from Louise Donnelly, professor of respiratory cell biology at the National Heart & Lung Institute who thanked the research volunteers for their involvement in the studies and explained the need for research into COPD. This was followed by presentations from clinicians and scientists, including Dr Andrew Thorley, Dr Lydia Finney and Dr Kylie Belchamber among others.

Research areas covered in the session included:

macrophage dysfunction

diesel and air pollution

nano-medicine

barcoding bacteria.

The event was well attended by patients and volunteers from several COPD studies with positive feedback from those who attended with all of the attendees saying that they would attend a similar event in the future.

One patient commented “Very good idea, we have been healthy volunteers in a number of studies and have never been to anything like this before; we really enjoyed it”

Dr Adam Loveridge, research fellow and organiser of the event, said “It was a pleasure to thank our volunteers in this small way and give them the opportunity to speak with the scientists whose research is only made possible by the generosity of the public”.

If you would like to find out more about COPD research and how you can get involved please email us.